There are moments when the focus of an international manager veers decidedly toward near-term concerns. Who is in form? Who is fit? Who is the next opponent? But there are also those occasions when a manager can allow him or herself to scan the horizon and look to the future.

In the case of United States men's national team manager Gregg Berhalter, this is decidedly one of those occasions. The 24-man roster he announced on Tuesday for matches against Wales on Nov. 12 and Panama four days later features 19 players who are age-eligible for the 2021 Olympics and 14 who are 20 years old or younger. This group's youth and its corresponding potential makes this squad among the most tantalizing in recent memory.

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The roster has some names that, at least publicly, have only recently appeared on the national team radar. The most intriguing is that of Yunus Musah.

The 17-year-old winger was born in New York, plays for Valencia, scored his first professional goal last weekend, and is a product of Arsenal's academy. He's played for England's youth national teams -- although not in official competition, meaning he doesn't have to file a one-time switch to represent the U.S. -- and is eligible to represent Ghana as well. Credit, then, to U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Earnie Stewart, U.S. men's national team GM Brian McBride and Berhalter for jumping on the opportunity to bring in a player that Berhalter said the USSF has been tracking for 18 months. And yes, much like the U.S. did with Sergino Dest when he was deciding his international future, this is as much a recruiting trip as anything.

"What we see from [Musah] is a player that's hungry, he's hungry to make his impact," said Berhalter. "He has a connection with the United States. He loves the direction the team is going in. He loves the young talent that he can be alongside. And we see him as having a ton of potential. And for us, it's about getting him on the field with us, letting him experience how we work as a group, how we work as a staff, [and getting] him in the team environment that we're able to create, and then all we can do is hope that in the end, he chooses us for the long term."

It's not just a question of Musah choosing. Berhalter will be doing some choosing of his own.

"One thing I'm always careful about is, I want to know the player's connection to the United States in terms of: Do they feel it in their heart?" he said. "Do they feel like they want to be part of this team? Do they feel a connection to the United States? Because that's really important. We also want to create a team that has a deep passion for representing our country."

Then there are the likes of Internacional holding midfielder Johnny Cardoso, Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Owen Otasowie and Caen forward Nicholas Gioacchini. Cardoso has been called in for a couple of U23 camps, and is one of those out-of-nowhere players to whom fans latch on. He is the first player in 24 years to earn a national team call-up while playing for a club outside of CONCACAF or UEFA. Cobi Jones last did it, earning a call-up to the 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup while playing for Vasco da Gama.

To a large degree, this is all part of a roster's natural progression. Thirteen players in this squad have represented the U.S. at a youth World Cup, including six at last year's U20 tournament.

There's also the chance to get another dual national -- or in this case, triple national -- into the fold in Sebastian Soto. Names like Dest, Chris Richards, Alex Mendez and Ulysses Llanez have been on the minds of fans for some time now. Now that the quartet is breaking into their respective first teams, the time is right to take the next steps at the international level.

There's even a "Man Who Came in From the Cold" aspect to the roster, as Lille attacker Timothy Weah makes a return after dealing with injuries for much of the past year.

Granted, Berhalter isn't looking exclusively to the future. It has been nearly a year since anything close to his first-choice group has been together, so the November get-together will be an all-too-rare opportunity to see some first-choice players up close. That's even more so the case with the triumvirate of Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie, who have shared the field for just 62 minutes since the start of 2019.

Alas, that dynamic could continue as Pulisic suffered a hamstring injury while warming up last weekend for Chelsea's match against Burnley. Blues boss Frank Lampard said that the injury is "very minor" but given Pulisic's injury history, it seems there is more than a decent chance the U.S. attacker will miss out.

Pulisic's possible absence is mitigated by the presence of 17-year-old Giovanni Reyna. In a world without COVID-19, Reyna would have long since made his debut given his performances for Borussia Dortmund. Now that wait is almost certain to give way to actual minutes on the field alongside Adams and McKennie.

"I think we should be able to be very aggressive offensively, getting behind the opponent, really putting the opponent on their heels," Berhalter said. "And those are things that we need to just work on because we haven't been together with this group often. Tyler's played one game for us since I've taken over. So it's just about getting them on the field playing together, getting them comfortable with each other."

With several competitions scheduled for 2021, including World Cup qualifying, the time is now to get that chemistry established.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo's latest high right ankle sprain wasn't so much an aggravation of his previous injury as a whole new one, which is why he's expected to miss about six weeks and could be out for the rest of the season.

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday that the ankle sprain Garoppolo suffered in Sunday's loss against the Seattle Seahawks was "essentially a whole new one, just on the same foot," and this sprain is considered more serious than the one he suffered in Week 2 against the New York Jets.

Because of that, Garoppolo is in the process of gathering multiple medical opinions before deciding whether he will need surgery, which would end his 2020 season.

"When you have those high ankle sprains, you reinjure them a lot," Shanahan said. "But it was different the way that he did it, so it's basically doing it all over again in a different way. ... Whatever's best for him, long term, is obviously what we'll decide on. But if he does need the surgery, then it'll be all year; if not, then hoping six weeks, get a chance to get back at the end."

Asked whether he felt like Garoppolo was brought back from the first ankle sprain too soon, Shanahan indicated that wasn't really the issue, and though Garoppolo struggled mightily in his return against the Miami Dolphins, he'd progressed in the two weeks before the loss to Seattle.

"I don't regret bringing him back any of the times," Shanahan said. "Obviously, the way the Miami game went, if I could've seen that before the game, we could've avoided bringing him back, but I thought he gave us a real good chance to win and we didn't think he was risking injury by going further with it and he didn't. That's why he was able to come back the next two weeks even healthier. But he redid something in the Seattle game and it was bad ... it ended up being worse than we thought."

At some point soon, Garoppolo will go on injured reserve, which means he has to miss at least the next three games, including Thursday night's game against the Green Bay Packers. The same is true of tight end George Kittle, who suffered a fracture in his foot that initially didn't show up on X-rays on Sunday but did upon further testing on Monday.

Kittle, who missed two games with a sprained knee earlier this season, is known for returning sooner than normal injury timetables, but Shanahan indicated that probably won't be the case this time.

"I think they told me eight weeks," Shanahan said. "Kittle says two but that's how he rolls. But that's why he'll go on IR. If it's better than what they're saying then he'll have a chance to come back this year, but eight weeks is eight weeks."

Shanahan also ruled out receiver Deebo Samuel (hamstring), running back Tevin Coleman (knee sprain) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (hamstring) for Thursday night against Green Bay.

Backup Nick Mullens will start for Garoppolo at quarterback against the Packers, with Ross Dwelley likely to step in for Kittle. Tight end Jordan Reed, who is working back from a knee sprain, could also be in the mix, though his participation in Tuesday's practice was expected to be limited.

Shanahan also indicated that practice squad running back Austin Walter could be promoted this week to join JaMycal Hasty and Jerick McKinnon as the only healthy running backs available.

The Niners' relentless spate of injuries have taken their toll, but the team has little time to dwell on them with another game in two days.

"We had an idea on the injuries but we kept getting worse news on that stuff, which was tough," Shanahan said. "But eventually you run out of hours in the day, you have got to get to game-planning... All we can think about is one thing right now."

Additionally, the 49ers waived wide receiver Dante Pettis and defensive lineman Jullian Taylor. Pettis was a second-round pick in 2018. Taylor had spent the season on the physically unable to perform list after tearing his ACL in December of last year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans have informed outside linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. that he will be released on Wednesday.

Releasing Beasley is a surprising move for the Titans, who signed him to a one-year, $9.5 million contract in March.

The sixth-year veteran played 118 snaps (24%) on defense this season, posting three tackles and a forced fumble. Beasley made his debut with the Titans in Week 3 against the Minnesota Vikings.

Things got off to a strange start for Beasley and the Titans when Beasley reported to camp 10 days late due to an unexcused absence that resulted in a $500,000 fine. Once Beasley got to camp, he was placed on the non-football injury list.

The Titans were banking on Beasley helping their pass rush, but he wasn't able to consistently pressure the quarterback or register a sack during his time in Tennessee.

When asked about Beasley's effort, Titans coach Mike Vrabel may have foreshadowed the veteran's release.

"At this point in the season, teams are going to go in one of two directions, they're going to keep getting better or they're not, and we were a team last year that continued to improve. That's my charge now, is to make sure that we're one of those teams that keeps getting better," Vrabel said on Monday.

As a member of the Atlanta Falcons, Beasley led the NFL with 15.5 sacks in 2015. He finished with 8.5 sacks for the Falcons last season.

A questionable work ethic and passion for the game reportedly led to Beasley becoming a free agent.

The Titans also released veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph and long-snapper Beau Brinkley.

Second-year outside linebacker Derick Roberson is yet to be on the active roster this season due to injury and illness, but he will likely be called upon to take Beasley's place in the outside linebacker rotation along with Jadeveon Clowney and Harold Landry.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially activated Antonio Brown from the suspended list on Tuesday, the team announced.

Coach Bruce Arians said Tuesday that Brown will have a role in Sunday night's game against the New Orleans Saints.

"He'll have his role -- it could be 10 plays, it could be 35 plays. I wouldn't anticipate 60 plays, for sure, but we'll just see how it goes," he said.

The Buccaneers signed Brown last week to a one-year deal for a base salary of $750,000 with incentives that could push the value to $2.5 million, sources told ESPN

Brown concluded an eight-game suspension for multiple violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy and was only permitted to work out with the Buccaneers' strength and conditioning staff and attend meetings. He was not allowed to practice with the team.

"We'll see how much we can get him taught, Arians said. "And the first practice will be a walkthrough, because we've got a short week coming off Monday night - so we basically miss a practice this week on Wednesday because of the short week, so it'll be a walkthrough practice, and basically all learning.

Brown, a seven-time Pro Bowler, has 11,263 receiving yards and 75 touchdown receptions in his 10-year career.

ESPN's Jenna Laine contributed to this report.

NFL trade deadline day, as is often the case, came and went Tuesday with more fizzle than sizzle. A few big names got kicked around, but there wasn't much late movement, and not many people were surprised.

This year more than ever, with COVID-19 testing requirements delaying the availability of new player acquisitions and next year's salary-cap concerns dampening teams' desire to take on big contracts, inertia ruled the day. If you felt like your team was one piece away Tuesday morning, you probably still do.

That said, there was a decent amount of activity over the past week, and that counts as trade-deadline movement. So as we like to do when we reach these types of mileposts on the NFL calendar, we're breaking down some winners and losers.

WINNERS

Avery Williamson, LB, Pittsburgh Steelers

This dude just picked up 15 games in the standings, after being traded from the 0-8 New York Jets to the 7-0 Steelers, who were looking for linebacker depth and liked Williamson's veteran pedigree.

You can make the case that anybody who got dealt away by the Jets -- Williamson, outside linebacker Jordan Willis, nose tackle Steve McLendon -- came away winners, since they're all going to have more of a chance to compete with their new teams than they would have with the Jets. But none of those other guys ended up on undefeated teams.

Williamson is the biggest deadline winner, as his situation is the most improved of any player or team.

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens jumped the deadline last week and acquired pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue from the Minnesota Vikings just a couple of months after the Vikings acquired him from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Minnesota hasn't had the season it expected to have and decided to recoup something for Ngakoue before he left as a free agent. The Ravens were happy to send a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 fifth-rounder for a still-young edge rusher who makes their defense even more fearsome for the stretch run and could factor into their long-term plans as well.

Seattle Seahawks

Carlos Dunlap isn't a perfect solution to Seattle's pass-rushing woes, but no team is going to get Khalil Mack at the trade deadline. Acquisitions in early November have to be of the warts-and-all variety, and the former Cincinnati Bengals veteran is at least someone who might be able to help.

Plus, in sending back spare offensive lineman B.J. Finney, Seattle was able to offset some of Dunlap's salary and keep its salary cap impact to a minimum.

LOSERS

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

The NFL rumor mill was abuzz all day about the possibility of the Packers landing Houston Texans receiver Will Fuller -- or really, any receiver. In the end, the Packers didn't want to pay Houston's price, so they remain where they've been since last year at the receiver position.

Those who were railing against the Packers for taking Rodgers' successor in the first round of a receiver-rich draft in April have free ammunition for their arguments. But Rodgers is a career Packer, and he knows how the organization operates. They draft and develop. They don't usually spend big money to sign guys and they very rarely spend valuable draft picks to acquire guys in trades. They also make the playoffs almost every year. Packers gonna Packer.

The idea of them giving up a high pick for Fuller, who would eat up almost all of their 2020 cap space and prevent them from applying it to 2021, always felt far-fetched.

Houston Texans

The flip side of the Rodgers item here is that the Texans really could have improved with a deal or two. They were valuing their players highly, which is fair. Fuller is a 2016 first-round pick who's having an excellent year and shouldn't be given away. But between him, Kenny Stills, the perpetually tradable Brandin Cooks and a widespread demand for receiver help around the league, it feels as if Houston should have been able to make some deal.

As a result of previous trades, the Texans don't have a pick in the first or second rounds of the 2021 NFL draft. They have an extra fourth and an extra sixth, but they are going to need some offseason help and could have used more draft capital.

Stephon Gilmore, CB, New England Patriots

By all accounts, Gilmore likes it fine in New England and wasn't eager to be traded. But he is also going to want (and definitely deserves) a new contract at some point soon. He's scheduled to make just $7 million next year, which is the final year of his Patriots deal.

Had New England traded him to a team willing to give him that extension, Gilmore could have been the pickup of the deadline for some team. Now he has to slug out this rebuilding year in Foxborough and hope the Patriots do right by him down the road -- either with an extension or an offseason trade.

Dwayne Haskins, QB, Washington Football Team

Washington's second-year quarterback needs to be with a team that believes in him and is willing to put in the work to develop him. Basically, he needs to be in the situation in which the equally erratic Daniel Jones finds himself with the New York Giants. He doesn't have that in Washington and would have benefited from a change of scenery.

TOSS-UP

Isaiah Ford, WR, New England Patriots

Let's address one of the only trades that actually did go down at the deadline -- the Miami Dolphins trading Ford to the division-rival Patriots -- but I can't figure out who it helps and whether it's a good thing for the player. On the one hand, he should be in line to catch a ton of passes, as the Patriots' wide receiver situation can best be described as "barren." The Dolphins liked Ford coming out of training camp as a slot receiver, and the Patriots recently lost slot receiver Julian Edelman to a knee injury. He should fit.

But on the other hand -- and it's hard to believe we're saying this -- going from Miami to New England isn't a great thing right now. The second-place Dolphins are ahead of third-place New England in the AFC East standings, their defense just clobbered the Rams and they have an exciting young quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa. The Patriots have lost four in a row and seem to be pretty clearly in a rebuilding year. Crazy times we live in, when getting traded from the Dolphins to the Patriots might be a downgrade.

Eddie Johnson, the two-time All-Star for the Atlanta Hawks whose career was shortened by arrests that led to a ban from the NBA and life sentence in prison, has died. He was 65.

Johnson died on Oct. 26. His death was confirmed Tuesday by Rocker-Cusack Mortuary in Leesburg, Florida.

Johnson was a third-round pick from Auburn by the Hawks in the 1977 NBA draft. He became an immediate contributor and then a starter for the Hawks.

Because of his explosive first step, Johnson earned the nickname "Fast Eddie'' and averaged 15.1 points in 10 NBA seasons. He set a career high by averaging 19.1 points for the Hawks in the 1980-81 season. He started in the 1980 and 1981 All-Star Games.

The Hawks traded Johnson to Cleveland for Johnny Davis on Feb. 10, 1986. Johnson signed with Seattle in 1987. He received a lifetime suspension from the NBA in 1987 for his cocaine use.

Johnson was 53 when, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website, he received a mandatory life sentence in 2008 after he was found guilty of sexual assault on an 8-year-old girl.

Johnson was serving the life sentence at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton, Florida, when an undisclosed illness led to his death.

The mortuary said Johnson will be buried at Weirsdale (Florida) Community Cemetery on Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton could surpass 100 career Formula One victories next season. His win in the Eifel Grand Prix matched Michael Schumacher’s once seemingly unbeatable record of 91 wins and he later broke the record during the Portuguese Grand Prix.

“There’s a lot of talk in all sports about greatest, past and present, and I think it’s almost impossible to compare,” said Hamilton. “There’s all this talk of who is and who is not, and it’s not important to me. What’s important is the journey, it is what we’ve done along the way, the obstacles you’ve faced. And everyone’s got a different journey.”

It is indeed difficult to compare eras. In recent years there have been about 20 races in a season. In the 1950s, most seasons had just seven, eight or nine races. In the 1960s, there were nine to 12 races. In the 1970s, there was a maximum of 16 races.

What you can compare is winning percentages.

Jackie Stewart won 27 of his 99 races – 27.27 percent. Alain Prost had 51 wins out of 199 races – 25.62 percent. Ayrton Senna 41 of 161 – 25.46 percent; Alberto Ascari won 13 of 32 – 40.63 percent. Stirling Moss won 16 of his 66 races – 24.24 percent.

Michael Schumacher won 91 times in 307 starts – 29.64 percent. Schumacher’s numbers would have been considerably different if he had not made his F-1 comeback. When he retired at the end of 2006, he had 91 wins in 249 starts – 36.54 percent. In his three-year return from 2010 through 2012 with Mercedes he contested 58 races but won none of them. In fact, he had just one podium finish during those three years – one third place in 2012.

To be fair to Schumacher, Mercedes was still building up its team at that time. It did not really start winning a lot of races until 2014 with Hamilton.

Hamilton’s 91st win came in his 261st start – 34.87 percent.

“I can only tell you that it doesn’t get easier,” he said.” From you first win to your 91st I’m telling you it’s been a long hard run. But Michael (Schumacher) is and always will be a legend of the sport.”

On a pure percentage Juan Manuel Fangio won 24 of the 51 championship F-1 races he contested – a staggering 47.06 percent.

Hamilton has averaged 10 wins a season since 2014.

“Hopefully, we have got more records to break and to make,” he said. “I am not done yet. I still feel I am able to improve. I still feel I am driving at a really good level.”

WHITELAND, Ind. — Nolen Racing, one of the premier teams of the USAC Silver Crown series, is evaluating its options after Kody Swanson opted to depart the team.

Swanson won the USAC Silver Crown Series driver championship driving for Nolen Racing in 2019 and finished second this year. The Whiteland, Ind.-based team has finished in the top five in the USAC Silver Crown series standings for the last six years.

The USAC Silver Crown series is contested on both asphalt and dirt tracks. Nolen Racing has fielded cars in the USAC Silver Crown division for nearly 40 years under the direction of team founder Gene Nolen, who passed away on April 8. Greg Nolen, his son, continues to operate the team in homage to his father.

Nolen Racing won half of the USAC Silver Crown events in 2019 and Swanson earned the series’ driver championship, his fifth such title. He is the winningest driver in series history.

Swanson drove the yellow Nolen Racing No. 20 to second place in the driver championship this season in a year that was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rain. Swanson had one victory, recording his fifth consecutive win in the Joe James-Pat O’Connor Memorial at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in August, which is a record for that event. It was his 30th USAC Silver Crown victory, also a record.

With Swanson behind the wheel, the Nolen Racing team also earned the pole position and led every lap of the 40-lap sprint car feature in the 70th annual Night Before the 500 show at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., in August. That track was also the site of the team and Swanson’s victory in the sprint car portion of the Indy Summer Nationals in June.

Two of Swanson’s three victories in the prestigious Pay Less Little 500 asphalt sprint car race at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway have come driving for Nolen Racing. In 2019 the team dominated that race so much it led an unprecedented 499 of the 500 laps with Swanson and Shane Hollingsworth driving in a two-car effort.

Both drove Nolen Racing mounts in that race this year too. Hollingsworth finished second, his best finish ever in that race. Swanson won the pole, posted the fastest lap of the race, and was running second to Hollingsworth when he was forced to retire with engine difficulties.

“Shane is planning to run the Little 500 with us next year too,” Nolen said. “We are planning to run two cars there next year also; we just don’t know who will be driving one of them.

“We know that Kody wants to concentrate on the asphalt Silver Crown races next year, and Doran Racing will provide a pathway for Kody to get to the next level in his racing career. The entire Nolen Racing team wishes him the best,” Nolen said. “I can’t thank him enough for winning the Little 500 and a Silver Crown championship for my dad. We’re happy for Kody; Doran Racing is a great team. Kevin [Doran] is getting an awesome driver and a great person; his whole family is great. We will always consider the Swansons as part of the Nolen Racing family.”

“My family and I have really enjoyed the time we’ve raced with Gene, and his son Greg, who led the team this year in his honor,” said Swanson. “I’m thankful for everyone who has been part of the Nolen Racing team these past few years; they are all great people and graciously welcomed us into their racing family. I’m grateful for the time we’ve all spent together, for the friendships we’ve made, and for all of their effort.”

Drivers who would like to join the team next year should contact Nolen. His email address is [email protected].

Argentina football legend Diego Maradona will undergo emergency surgery to treat a subdural hematoma, a blood clot on the brain, his personal physician told reporters on Tuesday, after he was admitted to a hospital a day earlier.

Maradona was admitted to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata on Monday with anemia, dehydration and depression, but will now undergo the procedure after an MRI revealed a subdural hematoma.

Leopoldo Luque, Maradona's personal doctor, will perform the surgery at Clinica Olivos in Buenos Aires province on Tuesday.

"We did an MRI one month ago and everything was normal," Luque said. "We repeated the study and we saw the subdural hematoma. These types of injuries are tough to spot, I don't know it he suffered some kind of hit or fall.

"This is a routine surgery that even [Argentina's] vice president [Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner] has undergone. The panorama has not changed, he continues to have the same clinical diagnosis but now we have a more concrete diagnosis.

"He is alert, he understands and he is in agreement about the surgery. He is not upset," he said.

Maradona manages first-division side Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata but has sat out of the team's training as a precaution to avoid the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 as he is considered in the risk group.

Maradona, who celebrated his 60th birthday last Friday, was in attendance of Gimnasia's 3-0 win over against Patronato before leaving at kickoff.

He led Argentina to the World Cup title and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time.

Since ending his playing career in 1997, the ex-Napoli, Barcelona, and Boca Juniors star has battled a series of health issues. He admitted to hospital in January 2019 with internal bleeding in the stomach. He also fell ill at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he was filmed passing out in an executive box at the Argentina-Nigeria game.

In 2004, he was hospitalised with severe heart and respiratory problems related to a long battle with drug addiction. He has undergone two gastric bypass operations to control his weight and also received treatment for alcohol abuse.